Thanks, Ben. I've been reading a lot of the tips that you have on pools solutions and they're very helpful. Because this is my first pool and it's open, I'm a bit nervous that I'll break something. I'm also not sure of the urgency that I need to have right now with the pool.

If I'm understanding your post, I need to balance the pH (which according to the pool shop is at 7.0 right now). The pool is at the correct water level right now. This is a silly question and I may not be understanding the science of it all, but if the salt system creates chlorine, why not dump in some salt and turn on the salt system instead of adding household bleach?

For the future, I'll order the test kit that you suggest.